2025 Speakers
Avant South brings together visionaries and changemakers who are shaping the future of innovation. From bold startup founders to powerhouse corporate leaders, our speakers don’t just talk innovation—they live it.
New speakers are being added regularly, so check back often for the latest additions.

Marc Gorlin
CEO and Founder
Marc Gorlin is the founder and CEO of Roadie, a UPS company. Roadie is a logistics management and crowdsourced delivery platform that provides businesses with a faster, cheaper, and more scalable delivery solution. Before launching Roadie, Marc co-founded Kabbage Inc., VerticalOne Corporation, and Pretty Good Privacy. He received the 2021 EY Entrepreneur of the Year National Award, the 2022 John Imlay Leadership Award, and is a 2024 Georgia Technology Hall of Fame inductee.

Justin Honaman
Head, Worldwide Retail, Restaurants, and Consumer Goods Business Development
Amazon Web Services

Justin Honaman
Head, Worldwide Retail, Restaurants, and Consumer Goods Business Development
Justin Honaman leads the worldwide Retail, Restaurants, and Consumer Goods industry strategy and business development team at Amazon Web Services. His team’s focus is on helping global customers understand, navigate, and leverage Amazon’s supply chain, advertising, e-commerce, physical store, artificial intelligence, digital core, and customer experience capabilities. Justin has spent the majority of his career in consumer goods and retail, working on both the customer side (Coca-Cola, Georgia Pacific) and the technology/consulting side (Accenture, EY). In the industry and community, Justin serves on the board for the Georgia Technology Authority, Consumer Goods Technology, Western Michigan Food Marketing, and Leadership Atlanta.

Mike Malakhov
Founder and CEO
Mike Malakhov is the founder and CEO of Carpool Logistics, a technology-enabled platform transforming vehicle transport into a strategic advantage for dealers, auctions, original equipment manufacturers, and fleets. With nearly two decades in logistics, his expertise includes building scalable logistics solutions and integrating technology to enhance operational efficiency. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in Supply Chain and Finance from Georgia Southern University and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

Chris Smith
CEO
Chris Smith is the CEO and co-founder of Slip Robotics, a fast-growing startup deploying robots that load and unload trucks in less than five minutes. Chris has over a decade of experience in robotics and industrial engineering, including factory simulation and material flow optimization at Tesla and Cummins. Chris holds an MBA and a master’s in manufacturing systems from Brigham Young University.

and more!
Stay tuned - more speaker
announcements coming soon!